Whale watching out of Bar Harbor, Maine, USA September 24th 2024.

 

I've been fortunate to lead a recent Naturetrek tour entitled "Autumn colours of New England" which took in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

Here are photos and chat about our whale watching day...more updates to follow about the 'autumn colours'.

 

One of the highlights of the 14 day tour was a pre-booked whale watching trip from Bar Harbor in Acadia National Park, Maine. We were sweating on whether the boat would go as a heavy swell in the north eastern Atlantic had caused them to cancel the 3 days prior to our booking and even then we had warnings that it could get quite rough once out of the bay. But we were in luck and the large catamaran left dock at 11 am and once out in the ocean ploughed into a head wind at 30 knots. We all had our hoods up and huddled in as the wind in our faces was very strong and indeed uncomfortable. But we were hardened wildlife watchers and whilst we could have gone downstairs in the warm cabin we stayed up on deck looking for a first sighting of a whale or any wildlife to be fair!

There was a very knowledgeable marine ecologist giving a commentary and we learnt an awful lot in a short space of time. We spotted Harbour Porpoise, Short-beaked Common Dolphins and Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on our 60 mile journey north into Canadian waters.

All types of vessels were enjoying the area and this huge cruise liner was moored in the bay.

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

 As we pressed on father toward the Bay of Fundy with Nova Scotia in the far distance most of our phones started buzzing with "Welcome to Canada" showing us we had entered into Canadian waters. Suddenly our other leader Martin Pitt shouted out that he'd seen a "blow" from a whale in the distance and we all kept our eyes peeled. We reached an area of white water where we were told there was an up-welling of water where the depth changed from 600 feet to 200 feet and this was where the whales like to feed.

All of a sudden we had 2 whales on our port side and as they started to show themselves they were identified as rare Northern Right Whales. So rare that it is estimated there are only about 350 left in the world. The skipper powered back and we drifted along always keeping our distance from them but they came quite close and displayed by head popping and diving to show their tail flukes. This was a "mega moment" in my marine watching life and they displayed for about 30 mins until we moved on to look for other sightings.

Distinctive 'blow' from a Northern Right whale

 

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

Northern Right whale

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

 

As we left the Northern Rights we motored on and started spotting both Humpback and Fin whales.

There were 'blows' all around us and several animals came close to the boat to check us out. 

We counted 3 Fin whales, the 2nd largest animal on earth after the Blue whale and it was an amazing experience to look down from the upper deck onto these huge creatures.

Fin whale

Fin whale

 

It was estimated that we saw between 12 and 15 individual Humpbacks and we didn't know where to look as they blew and dived showing their tail flukes in every direction we looked.

Here are just a few of the many images I captured on the day.....

Humpback whale

 

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whales

Humpback whales

Humpback whales

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

 

After spending approximately 90 minutes in close proximity to these animals it was time to take the long trek back to port. I must add that the tour was both educational and ethical with all whales left to  forage and feed without any pressure from the boat. Everyone was elated and the journey back didn't seem so bad as we also had the wind behind us so it was a more pleasurable passage than on the way out. Very few birds were seen but here are a couple of the better ones.

Possible Common Tern

Pomarine Jaeger or Skua to us Brits

Back into sheltered waters

 

I can highly recommend Bar Harbor Whale watching Company if you get up to Acadia  and Naturetrek tours run this as part of their "Autumn Colours of New England" tour annually.